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Storytelling guide
This is a storytelling guide used to help tell your stories effectively. Story scale We highly recommend new users to start on the low scale. It will become easiest to create tandem stories that way. By low scale, you should start out creating nothing larger than a regional civilization. Large scale stories involve continental empires and/or metaphysical beings known as the Gods. One of the reasons why we request new users (and new writers thereoff) to start out small is that it is easiest to write about. It is much easier to portray the details without making the creation seem thinned out or trite. That's not to say that it's impossible to write about large-scale plot devices. It is much easier to assimilate into the Erudite continuity should you start out small so that you could better assess the details. Exposition Generally, when writing your stories, it is best to make it so that new readers are able to understand it fairly easily without having read your informational articles. Since your stories take place in a universe different from the real world, some exposition is often required. Exposition is explaining the backstory. Most of the history of your characters should generally be documented only in informational articles, yet it is still a good idea to include some explanation in your stories as to not confuse new readers. Ask yourself this: Is the story understandable without knowing anything that occurred outside of the story's events? To answer the question, try adding some background information to help establish the setting. However, a common mistake in writing is the infodump. That is entire sections of stories are dedicated to explaining the backstory. The problem with infodumps is that they drag the pace of the story. Do not forget that readers can simply take a look at the informational articles if they want to know more on a particular subject. Generally, it is good practice add links to relevant articles in your stories that lead to such pages. How do you incorporate exposition? A common mistake is the use of the phrase. "As you know already..." (Example: "As you know already Bob, you were taken to the witch doctor and implanted with magical reconstructs." In real life, Bob's response would be, "Uh, yeah of course. I was there when it happened.") Instead, try having one character unaware of what is going on, and another one explaining it to them. Even subtle details such as newspaper headlines can achieve it well. Magic and Technology Even in a fantasy setting, the laws of magic and physics need to remain consistent. If you choose to create a new spell for example, you'll have to make sure it could actually work within the established rules. Because this is a fantasy wiki, we prefer to keep the tech levels down a bit - nothing further than post-medieval. We like to see the unusual ways magic is used. Retconning Sometimes, you may not be satisfied with how your story or article turned out. The universe is ever changing and dynamic. There is nothing stopping you from revising previously established facts, or retconning. Retconning is highly encouraged as it helps improve your stories and your writing overall. Category:Guides